Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Willard Airport [PAGE 8]

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The University, through the Engineering Experiment Station, has made important contributions during the past forty years to the development of railway and highway transportation. This has been done through the cooperation of members of the staff and the use of equipment of nearly every department of the College of Engineering and the departments of other divisions of the University. With proper adjustments and additions to the staff and facilities, the University of Illinois can make contributions to the training of personnel and to the development of air transportation comparable with those which have increased the economy, safety, and comfort of railway and highway transportation. The design of many types of airplanes for military and civilian service requires, in addition to the fundamental engineering training, instruction and research in aerodynamics, thermodynamics, engines, structural design, fatigue of metals, vibrations, radio, metallurgy, and tests and specifications of materials and instruments. This will require modifications and additions to existing advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in the departments of Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Electrical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, and Physics. Airport design is in its infancy. Many problems are involved: selection of site, grading, drainage, soil stabilization, paved runways, a comprehensive lighting plan, design of hangars and other buildings, the analysis and treatment of soil, weather bureau, radio facilities, water supply, and sewage disposal. The planning and construction of airports require the cooperation of men trained in Architec-

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